CLEVELAND — Cleveland residents at an East Side apartment complex said they are living in "humiliating" conditions, which include showers that flood, bathtubs that are unusable and missing doors.
Cleveland Councilman Richard Starr (Ward 5) said he has received between 75 and 100 complaints from residents at Rainbow Terrace Apartments since American Community Developers purchased the property in 2022.
He also blamed Independent Management Services, which was hired to manage the complex.
"Independent Management Services is not helping these residents and that is just the truth," he said.
"Residents are living in conditions that I can't believe its happening 2024," he said. "You have months and days, weeks at a time, where residents are not getting what they need."
'A lot of ball dropping'
Resident Novena Watkins's renovations completed over the winter have made it nearly impossible for her to bathe in her apartment.
"I been homeless," she said. "Unfortunately, this make me feel like I'm homeless."
She said she is unable to use a new bathtub that was installed over the winter.
"If I get down in there, ain't no getting back up," she said.
She said she is also unable to use the shower in her home. To bathe, she said she sits on the edge of the bathtub.
"It feel like I'm still not clean," she said.
Watkins also complained that her new toilet is too low and one of her bedroom doors was never replaced after it was removed during renovations.
"It's humiliating," said Rainbow Terrace resident Adrienne Henderson. "I paid my rent on time every month. I feel like if I'm paying there should be no reason why I can't go in here and use my shower how I need to use it."
Henderson said she had one of the same problems as Watkins. She said her bathtub was too high for her to get in and out of safely, and there was no bar to hold onto for balance.
She said she was excited to move into a new unit last week until she turned on the shower.
"This whole thing, we get in here, we start to use it, it just floods," she said.
She said the shower flooded the bathroom floor because of a problem with the pitch.
"The shower in here wasn't built right," she said. "It looks nice when you come in so I'm expecting everything is going to be great, it's going to work."
"There's a lot of ball dropping here," she said. "I don't understand the logic or the reasoning or the lack of care."
Independent Management Services
News 5 reached out to Independent Management Services, which is based in Michigan.
In an email, Vice-President Blake Hunter sent the following statement, which has been edited for clarity:
"Ms. Watkins was offered a newly rehabbed ADA unit to transfer to. When the ADA unit was ready, management made several attempts with Ms. Watkins to have her sign the needed transfer paperwork and complete the transfer. Ms. Watkins refused and subsequently advised management to give the ADA unit away on 6/11/24. Due to Ms. Watkins' renewed request to be transferred into an ADA unit, management has provided Ms. Watkins a 504-transfer packet today for her to complete. The bedroom door in her current unit is being installed today, as she refused management access to her unit earlier in the week to inspect or repair her concerns.
Ms. Henderson’s shower is and has been functioning. There was a previous issue with the shower pitch, which was repaired on 6/28/24. Management visited the resident today and reviewed the repair with the resident. Resident acknowledged she was unaware that the repair had been made."
News 5 also reached out to American Community Developers.
The company has yet to respond.
